Caldo de Mariscos Jarocho

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large 8-quart stockpot for seafood stock
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy soup pot
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and charring tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the seafood

   Peel and devein the shrimp, keeping the shells in a bowl. Cut the fish into large pieces and keep it cold. Rinse the fish bones and heads under cold water to remove any blood. Blood makes a muddy broth. A clean stock starts before the pot touches the stove.

2. 2

   Build the stock

   Put the shrimp shells, fish bones, fish heads, halved onion, smashed garlic, bay leaves, salt, and cold water in a large pot. Bring it slowly to a bare simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam during the first 10 minutes. Cook 35 minutes, uncovered, with small bubbles around the edge. Do not boil hard. Fish stock turns cloudy and harsh when you punish it.

3. 3

   Strain the broth

   Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl or pot, pressing lightly on the shells but not smashing the fish bones into paste. Discard the solids. You should have about 6 cups of seafood stock, gold and lightly briny. If you have less, add water. If you have more, keep it. A little extra broth never hurt a Veracruz table.

4. 4

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile guajillo and chile ancho separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until they soften, darken slightly, and smell sweet. They should not blacken. Burned chile makes bitter caldo, and seafood is too delicate to hide your mistake.

   Guajillo gives clean red color and gentle fruit. Ancho gives body and a little raisin sweetness. This caldo is deep, not fiery. Not all Mexican food is trying to burn your mouth.
5. 5

   Soak and blend

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover them with hot water for 15 minutes. Drain them. Blend the softened chiles with the charred Roma tomatoes, the peeled garlic cloves, and 1 cup of seafood stock until completely smooth. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve. Veracruz caldos should taste clean, not full of chile skins.

6. 6

   Fry the sauce

   Heat the olive oil in a wide clay cazuela or heavy soup pot over medium. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the strained chile-tomato sauce. It will sputter. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the color deepens to brick red and the oil begins to show at the edges. This frying wakes up the tomato and chile. Raw blended sauce tastes lazy.

7. 7

   Cook the vegetables

   Add the seafood stock to the fried sauce and stir well. Add the carrots, potatoes, chayote, and Mexican oregano. Simmer gently for 18 to 22 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but still hold their shape. Taste for salt now. The broth should taste slightly assertive because the seafood will soften it.

8. 8

   Add the jaiba

   Add the halved jaibas or crab pieces and simmer 6 minutes. The shells will tint the broth and give it that Gulf sweetness you cannot fake with bouillon cubes. If your crab is already cooked, simmer only 3 minutes so it does not dry out.

9. 9

   Finish the seafood

   Add the fish pieces, shrimp, squid if using, and clams if using. Keep the pot at a gentle simmer. Cook 4 to 6 minutes, until the shrimp turn pink, the fish flakes when pressed, and the clams open. Throw away any clam that stays closed. Do not stir hard. Fold with a spoon like you respect the fish.

10. 10

    Add epazote

    Turn off the heat and add the fresh epazote sprigs. Cover the pot for 5 minutes so the herb perfumes the caldo. Remove the epazote before serving if the stems are tough. Taste one last time for salt. The broth should be red, clean, briny, and green at the finish from the epazote.

11. 11

    Serve the caldo

    Ladle the caldo into deep bowls with pieces of fish, shrimp, jaiba, vegetables, and plenty of broth in each serving. Put lime halves, chopped cilantro, diced raw white onion, and warm corn tortillas on the table. Let people finish their own bowl. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fish bones and heads from a fishmonger who sells whole fish, not from a supermarket tray wrapped in plastic. Ask for huachinango, robalo, or grouper bones. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. They know which stall smells clean.
• •Do not replace the seafood stock with bottled clam juice and shrimp bouillon unless you understand what you are giving up. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade. The sweetness of shrimp shells and jaiba is the backbone of this caldo.
• •Fresh epazote matters. Dried epazote is weaker and dusty, but it is better than pretending cilantro does the same job. If you must use dried, add 1 teaspoon during the last 10 minutes of simmering.
• •Use firm fish. Huachinango, robalo, grouper, or cod hold together. Tilapia falls apart if you look at it wrong. Save it for another day.
• •This is served with corn tortillas, not flour tortillas. Flour tortillas belong to the north. Veracruz is Gulf coast corn country at this table.

Advance Preparation

• •The seafood stock can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Chill it quickly and keep it covered.
• •The chile-tomato sauce can be toasted, blended, strained, and fried one day ahead. Refrigerate it separately, then combine with the stock and vegetables before serving.
• •Do not add the fish, shrimp, clams, or squid ahead of time. Seafood waits for nobody. Cook it in the last minutes so it stays tender.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 620g)